Sorting through the information flood for usable knowledge for our farm

Sunday, October 03, 2010

Atrazine is still in trouble...

This type of information format is not easy to counter emotionally. And farmers end up looking like insensitive tools too often when we try.

[Please go here to see the video in question. I couldn't embed it with controls]

With the rising question of weed resistance making many of us reach for new/old herbicide tools, losing atrazine would really hurt. It could be some farms/areas will have to be "sacrificed" to reach a compromise with regulators.

Personally, I would favor more local monitoring at farmer expense to provide hard evidence our farm is not contributing to the problem. This would impact coarse soils most, and ease the burden on high clay soil types, I would guess. These areas also seem to overlap somewhat with irrigation as well.

This is pretty "throw-under-the-bus" for the farm community, but solidarity should not be the impediment to solving the problem where the problem exists.

5 comments:

Anonymous
said...

The atrazine problem is a little more complex. Heavy rains immediately after application tend to have chems in runoff water. This is more of a problem with tighter clay soils than coarse soils. Groundwater atrazine levels can be managed on coarse soils with limited applications(both single dosage and multiyear). I use atrazine on coarse soils, but I'm willing to take some pretty signifcant restrictions if I can keep the product. Btw, how is harvest,etc. going?

Being a farmer, I plan to attend the local screening of the movie with an open mind. I am hoping it is a well done, solid science backed presentation. (I'm still a bit miffed about Hollywood stars testifying before congress as experts on pesticide contamination years ago) On the one hand,if they are citing a few parts per billion (one part per billion is like one second out of 32 years, I am told) and they have no solid statistical base to compare to, it will be hard to accept. On the other hand, Atrazine, (or any other chem.) does not belong in our waters. I think ag does not get credit for the significant improvements that have been made reducing atrazine use, installing filter strips and such. I also expect we need to continue on the improvements.

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About Me

I am a sixth-generation farmer who hold a degree in Chemical Engineering, a minor in Economics, and served as a nuclear engineer from 1970-75.
Jan, Aaron and I farm 2100 acres near Chrisman, IL. Aaron joined our farm operation in 2008.
I have written humor and commentary for Farm Journal and Top Producer for 20 years. I was the host of US Farm Report from 2005 to 2014, and now serve as Commentator.
I speak often to farm and agribusiness groups on topics from risk analysis to professional development.

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Incoming is a collection of current thoughts on the nature of the profession of farming from the perspective of a farmer/writer (see full bio here).

It will soon become obvious to readers I lean to the middle, specifically toward pragmatic libertarianism: preserving individual liberty and responsibility. Another strong influence is my education as an engineer. Now throw in 45 years as a husband, 41 as father, and 30 as a choir director. Not to mention a life of farming.

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